What is Car Hire Excess Insurance?

Car hire excess insurance is an additional insurance policy which can protect you from the excess costs that you are required to pay in the event of an insurance claim on your hire car.

One story, two very different scenarios: without and with a car hire excess policy from insurance4carhire

Without car hire excess insurance

You're on holiday in France and you're unfamiliar with driving on the right hand side of the road. You accidentally clip the edge of the road, puncturing a tyre and damaging paintwork. This costs £750 to repair. Your excess with the car rental company is £500, so you will have to pay the company £500 and they will pay the remaining £250. Cost to you: £500.

With car hire excess insurance

You have taken out insurance4carhire's annual Europe policy, at £42.99*, in preparation for your holiday in France. You clip the edge of the road, puncturing a tyre and damaging paintwork. This costs £750 to repair. Your excess with the car rental company is £500, so you will have to pay the company £500 and they will pay the remaining £250. However, you then claim with insurance4carhire and receive a refund of £500 for your excess. Cost to you: £42.99.

Why choose a policy from insurance4carhire?

Excess cover is often offered when you pick up your rental car, but at a high cost - between £9 and £20 per day). A policy from insurance4carhire will cost you from £11.99 per trip or £42.99 per year and will cover your excess - up to £6,500 per claim.

Most car hire companies around the world include this type of insurance as standard when you hire your car. However, in some countries, such as those in North America and central America do not. It is also becoming increasingly common for car rental companies in Europe not to include this cover. To meet the needs of car renters travelling to these countries, insurance4carhire offers a Worldwide Plus CDW & SLI annual policy.

Daily vs annual car hire excess insurance

The key difference between our daily and annual car hire excess insurance policies is that daily policies are available for periods of up to 60 days at a time and can cover you almost anywhere in the world*. However, please note that you'll need to take out a new policy with each car rental agreement.

Our annual car hire excess insurance policies, on the other hand, allow you to cover your excess for up to 60 days at a time as many times as you like over the course of 12 months.

*Excluding any trip in, to, or through Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Region of Crimea, Sudan and Syria